Aboriginal military recruitment challenging but critical: military expert

OTTAWA — Aboriginal people are traditionally under-represented in the military and the Canadian Forces should carefully consider its approach to more successful recruitment, says a military expert.

The challenges of recruiting within this population range from structural issues — such as the requirement that an applicant have a high school diploma and no criminal record — to longstanding issues over land claims, said Christian Leuprecht, an associate professor in political science at the Royal Military College of Canada and at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

“It goes beyond having an effective recruitment ad. It requires an entire strategy that goes beyond the CF to figure out how to forge more effective linkages with that community,” Leuprecht said.

“I’m a little concerned that we’re neither moving at the pace nor with the strategical attention that’s required to remedy the demographic shortcomings of under-representation of those groups.”

Self-declared aboriginals made up 2.1 per cent of the total military personnel, including the reserves, as of June this year, according to numbers released to Postmedia News by the Department of National Defence. The target for aboriginal people in the Canadian Forces is 3.4 per cent.

“If you’re missing a truck and we have to go to war tomorrow, you can buy a truck off the shelf. You can’t build relationships with under-represented communities overnight.” – Christian Leuprecht

Self-identified aboriginal populations accounted for 3.9 per cent of the Canadian population in 2006, according to Statistics Canada.

Aboriginals are the fastest growing population group in Canada in relative terms, and recruiting more young men and women from this population has become more than necessary in order to keep them proportionally represented in the Canadian Forces, Leuprecht said.

The material for aboriginal youth was specifically aimed at drawing more aboriginal recruits into the Canadian Forces.

While the mainstream ads pre-tested for DND were generally positively received, the same couldn’t be said for many of the ads aimed at aboriginal people. The posters lacked “certain elements to heighten credibility and improve comprehension,” the reaction to the web banners was “lukewarm at best” and the radio ads received some quite negative reactions, according to the report.

“(The Canadian Forces) should review some of the materials aimed at Aboriginal people to increase relevance and ensure it remains culturally respectful,” the report said.

A radio ad deemed “offensive to the point of being comical” for comparing canoe-making with serving on a warship was scrapped, DND confirmed Tuesday.

Only the ads that tested favourably ran in the recruitment campaign from February 24th to March 31st 2012, and the final versions of the ads took into account the pre-test feedback, DND spokeswoman Dominique Verdon told Postmedia News.

With the aim to meet their employee equity recruitment goals for aboriginal people, women and visible minorities, the Canadian Forces work with communities and leaders to increase awareness of what the military has to offer, Verdon said in an email.

“We have a number of initiatives in place to help us reach our goal of having a CF population that reflects the diversity of Canada’s population,” she said. “These initiatives include Aboriginal youth and education programs, outreach efforts in different ethnic communities and women’s outreach activities.”

Aboriginal people tend to be under-represented throughout the federal government and not just within the Canadian Forces, Leuprecht noted. And there are lot of things the Canadian Forces should be lauded for, he said, such as giving opportunities to aboriginal people, contributing to the well-being of their communities, and giving their communities strong role models.

Still, Leuprecht said, there needs to be more public scrutiny on how resources are being used.

There is an argument for providing more training for those potential recruits who show potential but don’t make the academic cut, Leuprecht said. A few million dollars could mean taking a promising group of people from under-represented groups and giving them an extra year of training, he said. But, he noted, in a tight fiscal environment that’s money that then can’t be spent on other things.

“What’s more important?” Leuprecht said.

“If you’re missing a truck and we have to go to war tomorrow, you can buy a truck off the shelf. You can’t build relationships with under-represented communities overnight.”